Camels win over Brumbies secures them semi final spot
Wednesday August 18, 2010
The Cobar Camels after their big win against Brewarrina on Saturday.
A sharp warm up, a sunny day and grass on the field had the Cobar Camels confident from the kickoff against Brewarrina in the final round of the 2010 Western Plains Rugby competition at Brewarrina on Saturday.
Needing to win with a bonus point and by a hefty score line to sneak into fourth spot and make the finals, the Camels made sure it was uphill from the outset as they let the Brumbies in early to put first points on the board.
Fortunately it was the wakeup call the visitors needed. Their successful line-outs and structured play ensured that the Camels were soon back at the other end of the field and piling on the pressure.
With the line-out functioning at its best for the season, along with some big defence led by fullback Justin Schick, the Camels set up camp in Brewarrina’s 22 metre area.
With five-eighth Jayden Martin giving his outside backs great ball and centre Harry Vari running riot in the mid field, it was only a matter of time before centre-come-prop Steve Gillette found a gaping hole in the defensive line and waltzed through to score.
Captain Chris O’Hara knocked over the conversion to tie proceedings up at 7-all.
Shortly after Brewarrina’s inability to defend their blindside was exposed by Schick, as the Cobar forwards yet again dominated their opponents and the Camels’ fullback was able to streak down the blindside and score under the posts. Another successful conversion had Cobar ahead 14-7.
With Martin directing play to keep Brewarrina in their own half and the Cobar forwards dominating their opponents, cracks in the home side’s defence developed into gaping chasms. Camels’ Winger Daniel Howard changed the angle of attack magnificently to put down under the posts and the Cobar captain had his radar switched on to knock over his third goal in a row making it 21-7 at the break.
A good fight after the resumption eased a bit of the pain for the Camels’ forwards after they yet again had the frustration of their scrum dominance taken off them by Brewarrina calling for uncontested scrums.
Brewarrina started to get their act together and through a combination of enterprising back play and poor Camel ball security, the Brumbies were able to put pressure on the Camels’ line. However it didn’t come to anything for the home side and another break by Schick down the left hand side allowed him to set up Sam Baker to touch the ball down and advance the Camels lead to 26-7.
A big run down the centre by Prop Bryce Rixon disjointed the home side and a subsequent great movement saw Sheldon Wilson score in between his visits to the blood bin.
Vari then scored after his forwards had done some great preliminary work mid-field to take the score to 38-7. Another Schick break down the blindside set up Breakaway Baker to cross for his second try of the game.
The Camels didn’t however have it all their own way. After some good lead up work, the Brumbies were able to put some pressure on the Camels, which this time they converted into points to close the gap to 45-14.
After the short lapse, the Camels were back on track when Gillette found another hole in the Brumbies’ defence following a line-out and scored.
The home side had the final say though, scoring against the run of play in the dying seconds of the match and their consolation try took the final score to 52-19.—contributed
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